Malicious Office (OOXML) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 8403a9716974e87a…

MALICIOUS

Office (OOXML)

180.2 KB Created: 2015-06-05 18:19:34 UTC Authoring application: Microsoft Excel 16.0300 First seen: 2021-06-17
MD5: bc2ae5be4dfa23cb00b1d76b3d4f88ca SHA-1: 0091c8fd165c8f68429302209f98adfd69062df2 SHA-256: 8403a9716974e87a472cb8f175e3542b3069351520e9a70110bc5440d1365cc7
190 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The sample contains Excel 4.0 macros, evidenced by critical heuristic firings for XLM macrosheets and dangerous formula APIs. The macros are designed to execute a command that downloads a second-stage payload from the URLs: https://norsecompassgroup.com/4EQmRlzmq9R/lipa.html and https://corazonarquitectura.com/94REej6f3mR/lipa.html. This indicates a downloader or initial access mechanism.

Heuristics 5

  • Excel 4.0 macro sheet (1 sheet(s)) critical 2 related findings OOXML_XLM_MACROSHEET
    Spreadsheet contains an Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet — XLM was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022 and evaded many VBA-focused controls before Microsoft tightened XLM defaults. Even legitimate XLM use is rare in modern workbooks.
  • Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OOXML_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME
    Workbook defines _xlnm.Auto_Open or _xlnm.Auto_Close while containing an XLM macro sheet. This is the OOXML/XLSB auto-execution shape for Excel 4.0 macros.
  • Dangerous XLM formula APIs: FORMULA, HALT critical OOXML_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet uses formula APIs that call directly into Win32 (=CALL/=EXEC/=REGISTER/=FORMULA). These are the primitives used to download payloads, write files, and start processes from an XLM macro without invoking VBA.
  • Hidden worksheet (hidden) low OOXML_HIDDEN_SHEET
    Excel workbook contains 1 hidden sheet(s) — hidden sheets are commonly used to conceal macro code, staging data, or intermediate payload construction
  • Embedded URL info EMBEDDED_URL
    One or more URLs were extracted from the document. The URL itself is not a detection — see the per-URL labels for which channel (macro, JS, link annotation, document body, ...) reached each URL.
    URL https://norsecompassgroup.com/4EQmRlzmq9R/lipa.html In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • https://corazonarquitectura.com/94REej6f3mR/lipa.htmlIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/mainIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/mainIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationshipsIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/acIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2014/revisionIn document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2015/revision2In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision3In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision6In document text (OOXML body / shared strings)

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_sheet_00.xml xlm-macrosheet OOXML XLM macro sheet: xl/macrosheets/intlsheet1.xml 208639 bytes
SHA-256: e221081031f75e4e39279bd3183028ac345104160eb4fa0659b3ba0dc587bff6
Preview script
First 1,000 lines of the extracted script
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<xm:macrosheet xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/spreadsheetml/2006/main" xmlns:xm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2006/main" xmlns:r="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="x14ac xr xr2 xr3 xr6" xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac" xmlns:xr="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2014/revision" xmlns:xr2="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2015/revision2" xmlns:xr3="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision3" xmlns:xr6="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2016/revision6" xr6:uid="{00000000-0001-0000-0100-000000000000}"><dimension ref="A1:BV283"/><sheetViews><sheetView showFormulas="1" zoomScaleNormal="100" workbookViewId="0"/></sheetViews><sheetFormatPr defaultColWidth="4.5703125" defaultRowHeight="15" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"/><cols><col min="1" max="39" width="4.5703125" style="2"/><col min="40" max="40" width="4.42578125" style="2" customWidth="1"/><col min="41" max="50" width="4.5703125" style="2" hidden="1" customWidth="1"/><col min="51" max="51" width="2.7109375" style="2" hidden="1" customWidth="1"/><col min="52" max="16384" width="4.5703125" style="2"/></cols><sheetData><row r="1" spans="1:41" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="A1" s="1"/><c r="B1" s="1"/><c r="C1" s="1"/><c r="D1" s="1"/><c r="E1" s="1"/><c r="F1" s="1"/><c r="G1" s="1"/><c r="H1" s="1"/><c r="I1" s="1"/><c r="J1" s="1"/><c r="K1" s="1"/><c r="L1" s="1"/><c r="M1" s="1"/><c r="N1" s="1"/><c r="O1" s="1"/><c r="P1" s="1"/><c r="Q1" s="1"/><c r="R1" s="1"/><c r="S1" s="1"/><c r="T1" s="1"/><c r="U1" s="1"/><c r="V1" s="1"/><c r="W1" s="1"/><c r="X1" s="1"/><c r="Y1" s="1"/><c r="Z1" s="1"/><c r="AA1" s="1"/><c r="AB1" s="1"/><c r="AC1" s="1"/><c r="AD1" s="1"/><c r="AE1" s="1"/><c r="AF1" s="1"/><c r="AG1" s="1"/><c r="AH1" s="1"/><c r="AI1" s="1"/><c r="AJ1" s="1"/></row><row r="2" spans="1:41" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="A2" s="1"/><c r="B2" s="1"/><c r="C2" s="1"/><c r="D2" s="1"/><c r="E2" s="1"/><c r="F2" s="1"/><c r="G2" s="1"/><c r="H2" s="1"/><c r="I2" s="1"/><c r="J2" s="1"/><c r="K2" s="1"/><c r="L2" s="1"/><c r="M2" s="1"/><c r="N2" s="1"/><c r="O2" s="1"/><c r="P2" s="1"/><c r="Q2" s="1"/><c r="R2" s="1"/><c r="S2" s="1"/><c r="T2" s="1"/><c r="U2" s="1"/><c r="V2" s="1"/><c r="W2" s="1"/><c r="X2" s="1"/><c r="Y2" s="1"/><c r="Z2" s="1"/><c r="AA2" s="1"/><c r="AB2" s="1"/><c r="AC2" s="1"/><c r="AD2" s="1"/><c r="AE2" s="1"/><c r="AF2" s="1"/><c r="AG2" s="1"/><c r="AH2" s="1"/><c r="AI2" s="1"/><c r="AJ2" s="1"/></row><row r="3" spans="1:41" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="A3" s="1"/><c r="B3" s="1"/><c r="C3" s="1"/><c r="D3" s="1"/><c r="E3" s="1"/><c r="F3" s="1"/><c r="G3" s="1"/><c r="H3" s="1"/><c r="I3" s="1"/><c r="J3" s="1"/><c r="K3" s="1"/><c r="L3" s="1"/><c r="M3" s="1"/><c r="N3" s="1"/><c r="O3" s="1"/><c r="P3" s="1"/><c r="Q3" s="1"/><c r="R3" s="1"/><c r="S3" s="1"/><c r="T3" s="1"/><c r="U3" s="1"/><c r="V3" s="1"/><c r="W3" s="1"/><c r="X3" s="1"/><c r="Y3" s="1"/><c r="Z3" s="1"/><c r="AA3" s="1"/><c r="AB3" s="1"/><c r="AC3" s="1"/><c r="AD3" s="1"/><c r="AE3" s="1"/><c r="AF3" s="1"/><c r="AG3" s="1"/></row><row r="4" spans="1:41" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="A4" s="1"/><c r="B4" s="1"/><c r="C4" s="1"/><c r="D4" s="1"/><c r="E4" s="1"/><c r="F4" s="1"/><c r="G4" s="1"/><c r="H4" s="1"/><c r="I4" s="1"/><c r="J4" s="1"/><c r="K4" s="1"/><c r="L4" s="1"/><c r="M4" s="1"/><c r="N4" s="1"/><c r="O4" s="1"/><c r="P4" s="1"/><c r="Q4" s="1"/><c r="R4" s="1"/><c r="S4" s="1"/><c r="T4" s="1"/><c r="U4" s="1"/><c r="V4" s="1"/><c r="W4" s="1"/><c r="X4" s="1"/><c r="Y4" s="1"/><c r="Z4" s="1"/><c r="AA4" s="1"/><c r="AB4" s="1"/><c r="AC4" s="1"/><c r="AD4" s="1"/><c r="AE4" s="1"/><c r="AF4" s="1"/><c r="AG4" s="1"/></row><row r="5" spans="1:41" x14ac:dyDescent="0.25"><c r="A5" s="1"/><c r="B5" s="1"/><c r="C5" s="1"/><c r="D5" s="1"/><c r="
... (truncated)